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OVER THE COUNTER
perhaps should be more shocking and be ‘The death of traditional retailing’. The department store was designed to have something for everyone, but not everyone is shopping any more. But ‘something for everyone’ is too vague, too woolly, and House of Fraser, Debenhams and others are stuck with nowhere to go. Retail consultant Kate Ancketill spoke recently on BBC Five Live about the huge inflexibility in old business models. Everyone assumed that these retail behemoths would have the lead in terms of cash, knowledge and experience, but their model simply is not working anymore. For 169 years House of Fraser has straddled our high streets, but it struggled and went because it could not update itself quickly enough and the stores did not appeal to the current shopper. The new rise of online retailers has left the larger established bricks and mortar retailers behind as they are more nimble and are using social media and influencers as the drivers of their business. They are reverse engineering, opening stores where their data tells them their customers are. The massive investment in their artificial intelligence means that they can sell online and then maximise and give the shopper an experience by opening stores in their strongest markets. The stores are also a reflection of their customer because they have collected so much data that they know to whom they are appealing. They can design the store in terms of layout, colour, even music, to match the profile of who is buying their goods to create what is almost a sure thing. So where does that leave us? Well, to an extent we can be like these new fleetfooted online retailers. We will know our customers and we will know how to keep ahead and keep them tempted, but let’s not hide from the fact that this is a lot more challenging and a lot more work than perhaps it was before. Even on a local level our
customer is changing. Knowing them and catering for them is one thing, getting them through that door however it quite another. ‘Experience’ is that one word seems to be the key to the shopping world. But what does experience really mean though? When I think of it in our stores I believe it starts with a welcome, with great service and product knowledge and is reinforced by having unusual, different items that we are passionate about. We also need to
Top: What do the new breed of shoppers want? Above: House of Fraser didn’t change with the times. Below: The second phase of Selfridges’ Accessories Hall has been launched in its Oxford Street branch.
emphasise that things are perhaps easier to find than in a large city centre store. In our case it also means we have introduced coffee and food to create a hub for people to meet, shop and socialise, and at its core that is what I believe the high street will have to become to actually survive. It seems that everyone’s plan for action was to offer experience. The sound logic was to give the shopper a reason to go to the mall or high street rather than just do it online. So the high street and malls need to be a great experience, from tills to toilets, from parking to lighting. It is not about trampolines or cinemas, these are attractions in their own right. It is about the shopper being made to feel special. It’s that word again ‘valued’. When people have this emotion and really believe
they and their money are valued it will keep them coming back. This again is much easier to do in a mall than it is on a high street. Malls are, on the whole, privately owned and are very aware that empty units do not help with footfall. Mall owners also usually have a vested interest, with many of the rents tied to a percentage of turnover, so it is in their interest to get the place working by doing or adding whatever is needed. I would imagine that most of you however are not in a position in a shopping mall as you simply could not afford the rent, rates or service charge. Most of you will be in small highs streets or secondary sites and will face similar problems to myself, and one of the other major problems is the environment in which we operate. Our local council is literally a few years away from possible bankruptcy, and things like the public toilets have been largely closed. This makes town centres a less attractive destination as people need to relax, and not being able to spend that penny will result in many £pounds lost. I know the amount of use our customer toilets get by non-customers because they are of a great standard, BUT it does not translate into sales. Retail is something that I still love and believe in. I don’t want and can’t accept that the high street will die - not in my lifetime anyway. I celebrate when I see great retail, such as Selfridges’ newly launched second phase of its Accessories Hall, the largest in the world. Initially opened in 2016, it’s 60,000 sq ft of exclusive brands, one hour service for prescription glasses, collaboration with a very trendy jewellery company and not
to mention the beautiful design using walnut, white terrazzo and marble. In other words it is special and you feel special when you are in that space. Exceptional experience based retail is the only way that we will survive, and, like JL, it sure as hell is personal to us indies: ‘Is this the real life, is this just fantasy? There is no escape from reality…’ To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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